Date:31/01/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/01/31/stories/2006013118650400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Manipal Hospital installs advanced gamma camera

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: Manipal Hospital has installed an advanced Gamma Camera, among the first of its kind in the region. This allows a CT scan to be carried out along with a "nuclear scan" of the patient without having to move the patient to another room.

The advantage of this modality will help diagnose diseases such as tumour imaging, orthopaedics and cardiac and neurological disorders, by using the CT scan obtained and at the same time being able to provide functional information about the disease, making it a valuable tool for the clinicians.

A nuclear scan has the benefits of providing functional information from cellular and molecular levels, not possible in other investigative procedures. It can provide dynamic and quantitative information that can be useful with diseases whose severity may keep changing. Nuclear scans are said to very safe as the radiation burden to the patient's body is less than in X-ray procedures.

Used for cardiac analysis, the scan can provide clinical indications such as presence of coronary artery disease, chest pain evaluation and stress tests, assessment of borderline cases, myocardial viability and cardiac fitness for other types of surgery not related to the heart. The renal scan is efficient in assessing the function of the kidneys.